Live Blog: The Hollywood Reporter Actress Roundtable 2010

The actual hour-long Hollywood Reporter video of the six actresses who grace their cover: Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams, Hilary Swank, Natalie Portman and Helena Bonham-Carter. Here's how it breaks down if you don't have a full hour to watch (video at bottom of post). Unfortunately you can't "scroll" so the time stamps are useless as I type away.

0:01 Helena talks about first day-i-tis. Never thinks she can do it. I can't act!
1:30 Amy talks about being unemployed and feeling sorry for herself (interesting bit... both sad and funny) and the long time period where she considered giving up. But now that she's successful, what doesn't she like about her career?

Amy: I feel very vulnerable. I don't like it at all. You're very subject to other people's opinions. You know when it doesn't go well. 

Hilary: We know when it doesn't go well. We don't need to be beat over the head with it.

Oopsie!

5:00 Swank talks about trying and even if you fail, always try your hardest. Ah platitudes! I didn't get enough of 'em on election night.
6:48 Annette is asked about her input into making The Kids Are All Right more of a comedy than it originally started as...

Annette: I just didn't want it to be earnest. But she's (Lisa Cholodenko) also kind of too generous when she talks about me and my contributions.

9:00 Helena interrupts to talk about the vibrator scene (but says she hasn't seen the movie).
10:30 Hilary complains that she can't find good comedies. Uhnnh, you're not a comic actress. We're 10 minutes in and Nicole has said NOTHING. I need Nicki. But she was like this at the Margot at the Wedding press conference I attended, too. She is kind of robotic until directly addressed. I say that with the utmost love but it's like she's a robot until the movie camera is on or the press cameras are off. It's... odd.
12:00 Natalie Portman calls the Black Swan screenplay "a blueprint." and reveals that she and Darren Aronofsky have been planning to make the movie for the past 9 years (!) and credits Nicole with the following great career advice...

Read more »

"That's (Not) a Bingo!" (Best Director, Supporting Actor)

I'd love to announce that I've completed this year's Oscar'ish 1/2 of the FiLM BiTCH Awards before heading out to Sundance but I can't shout that out triumphantly because it didn't come to pass. However, I did complete a few more categories while packing my bags for the festival. More when I return obviously.

img src

SUPPORTING ACTOR
By now the sweepers in awards season would be getting really annoying if most of them weren't such terrific, deserving performances. I'm on consensus this year I guess. I definitely don't wanna quibble with the Christoph Waltz enthusiasm: he's on my list, too. Bu

t it was interesting that on a second viewing of Inglourious Basterds he didn't dominate the film for me as much. This is not to say that the performance is lesser than I at first supposed. It's just different. He's very much part of the ensemble, and my favorite thing about the performance, as I indicated in the write up is all the facetious diplomacy. You see, everyone sharing the scene with him realizes who's in control... and I mean both the actors and their characters. But even though Waltz is holding the reigns, it's this intensely dominating connection to the other actors that makes this less a show-off vanity turn and more of a film-lifting contribution.

SONG
Went a little Crazy Heart crazy. Yet I still don't love the film. If this film had only been the musical performances, with the movie just following Bridges who can give you every detail of Bad Blake's life while just hitting these dive bars and singing, I might have loved it. It's the rest of the movie I didn't care for, a story I've heard a hundred times and one that's usually told with a bit less repetition. But I love Bridges up there singing those songs like it's as natural and familiar to him as any bodily function. He's been singing them his whole life... or at least Bad Blake has. Same difference.

DIRECTOR
I'm still weighing the pros and cons of 2009 but one thing I absolutely loved about the film year was the diversity of voices. Even if "The Year of the Woman Director" was a bit reductive sounding -- does that mean they're not allowed to direct next year? -- it wasn't only the justly lauded Kathryn Bigelow (The Sexy Locker!) who was working wonders. Jane Campion returned to the silver screen with none of her considerable transporting skill and visual sensitivity diminished. I can't wait to see Bright Star again (out on DVD!).

My favorite directorial achievements of the year, all 12 of them, represented a wide swath of voices, nationalities and types. People are calling James Cameron "King of the World" again. And even though Avatar did earn him the title (again), there's room at the cinema for multiple royals. Don't you think?

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Jennifer Jones and the Link Parade

Pop Hangover 'Morgan Freeman Does it All' (hee!)
Victim of the Time very fun, perceptive review of Me and Orson Welles
AV Club 19 worst films of the year
Jezebel talks to Manohla Dargis, diva film critic
Hollywood Reporter's Director Watch. I haven't had time to watch this yet (Lee Daniels, Kathryn Bigelow, Peter Jackson, Jane Campion, Quentin Tarantino and Jason Reitman appear) but I can't wait. Is it good?
Sergio Leone and the... on The Blind Side. An interesting piece but unfortunately it ends up zeroing in on attacking one review that's already on the attack.

Old Hollywood "Grace doesn't allow anecdotes to happen to her"
In Contention Guy interviews Jane Campion. Yay
The Film Doctor notes on The Princess and the Frog -- I'm so nervous to see this for many of the reasons mentioned
NY Times a profile on Nancy Meyers (It's Complicated), "the most powerful female writer-director-producer currently working"
Urlesque Cookie Monster cupcakes. I bet they're as delicious as they are cute
Movies Kick Ass won't board that Sin Nombre train, already crowded with critical adulation
Cinema Blend trouble right here in Sony City (Spider-Man 4... same as it ever was)

1919-2009
Mrs Jones... an indiscreet American wife

Jennifer Jones passed away today at the age of 90. The Song of Bernadette star was one of the oldest living Oscar winners. Thankfully deHavilland, Rainer, Rooney and Fontaine still walk the earth, representing the last magical remnants of 1930s Hollywood. Three of Jones's 1950s movies, including the Montgomery Clift romance Indiscretions of an American Wife, are available for instant watch on Netflix should you wish to say a bittersweet goodbye. The Auteurs Daily collects the write-ups.

Bright Star Contest (Times Two)

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its lovliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

New Contest! I've got two books of John Keats poetry to give away to faithful readers to commemorate the release of Jane Campion's Bright Star. To enter this contest, please send me an e-mail by September 30th with "Poetry" in the subject line containing the following info

• your name (and nickname)
• mailing address
• the name of your favorite poet and who should play them in a biopic ;)
  

The winners will be drawn randomly.

And while you're in contest mode, and if you're feeling particularly creative (and for perhaps self-flattering reasons I always think of my readers as creative!), you should know that there's a poetry contest over at the Bright Star website where you can submit a love poem of your own composition (less than 150 words) or a "little tweet nothing" (less than 140 characters) for a chance to win a diamond ring or pendant.


And since I suppose you're curious as to what I think of the movie, please share in my abject misery that I haven't seen it yet due to all of that overdoing it with special events and then becoming deathly ill and watching the Emmys instead of leaving the house. If I must die young* like John Keats, please let the brilliant Jane Campion shoot my death scene. She makes every thing bewitching.

Bright Star is currently open in New York and Los Angeles and opens in additional markets on Friday. Maybe we'll see it at the same time?

* I'm not young dying. Feeling slightly better today. Flu going bye bye?!

Bright Star Trailer

It's here.



Trailer voiceovers always sound like somebody is reading a children's book aloud, straining for light short story affect or blustery novelistic import. This one falls somewhere inbetween... light novella import? In truth I wish trailers wouldn't have them at all... I always want to just snatch the book from the disembodied voice to look at the pictures for myself.


And what pictures.

It's way too soon to call anybody a lock for Oscar anything (there's always much competition) but certainly the visuals of Bright Star will be talked up later in the year. Can Greg Fraiser, a fairly new cinematographer with mostly shorts to his name (including one for Jane Campion "The Water Diary"), compete with the well known names vying for a cinematography nomination? Can costume designer Janet Patterson (Peter Pan, Oscar and Lucinda), who has been nearly as elusive as Jane Campion since the 90s be nominated again? It's amusing that Fannie (Abbie Cornish) designs all her own clothes as a story point and that they're good enough to be made by a three-time Oscar nominee.

Abbie Cornish is a good bet for some form of year end attention but Ben Whishaw will have a tougher row to hoe as the poet: Headstrong protofeminist women are baity, emotionally sensitive men not so much... make of that what you will but I personally think it's simple sexism; Women with "masculine" power are respected, men with "feminine" attributes are not.

Two Nathaniel-obsessive examples: consider the attention Nicole Kidman got for Moulin Rouge! and compare it to Ewan McGregor's. Contrast Sela Ward's EMMY attention for TV's Once & Again and compare it to Billy Campbell's snubbings for the same show. In both cases both members of the coupling were doing tremendously effective work illustrating the emotional contours of love and romance. But "That's woman's work!" he summarized sarcastically.

A more universal example: Leonardo DiCaprio snubbed for Titanic. Kate Winslet nominated. Why? (Disclaimer: I personally would not have nominated either of them that year even though I love the movie. But, that said, I don't think she's appreciably better in that particular film even if she is a far greater actor than he overall)

P.S. 1 For newer readers who might be puzzling over why the return of writer/director Jane Campion thrills me so, see my review of The Piano, one of the three best films of the Nineties (the others being Heavenly Creatures and Boogie Nights). I'm not expecting Bright Star to be that earth shaking (few films are) but I'm eager to see the auteur back behind the camera again, working within the tragic romance register.

P.S. 2 How about that Scottish accent from Paul Schneider as John and Fannie's confidant?
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Bright Star, Romantic Posters, Mad Men

Despite the title of this post, I have done a reasonably good job of keeping my own internal hype down to manageable levels when it comes to Bright Star : The Return of Jane Campion. Maybe it's because I don't know a lot about John Keats (Ben Whishaw) the poet and I know nothing about Fannie Brawn (Abbie Cornish) his lover. But the poster is not helping me with expectations because I'm a sucker for a good doomed romance.

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art---
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors---
No---yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever---or else swoon in death.

-John Keats.

If I know my Jane Campion films I also think it's fitting/clever that Abbie Cornish is the top in this relationship (visually speaking). If you look at the general iconography of romantic movie posters, this poster is fairly unusual. There are only a handful of templates, with three popular options: the lovers are separated by lines or boxes, the lovers are paired somehow as equals and the most popular which is that the lovers are pictured in some sort of embrace with the man on top or higher in your field of view. Some of this is merely due to size, men being taller. Some of this is due to billing, men often getting top placement even if they aren't as famous (for example: James McAvoy's higher billing than Keira Knightley for Atonement before he ever had a hit of his own -- she'd had a few)...

...but since everything involved with movie marketing is a carefully considered choice, some of it has to be a matter of decades of subtly ingrained and probably unconscious sexism about whose in charge of relationships. For instance, I love that even when movie posters leave reality out of the picture altogether (faces floating in clouds like Up Close and Personal) -- the lovers are still obviously in missionary position. Ha!

My favorite man on top poster is an old classic Splendor in the Grass (1961). I love how hysterical the text is and how it foregrounds the fear/danger of female sexuality that's totally obvious in so much of cinema (an artform that's still mostly a man's domain). But, then again, I've been rewatching Mad Men Season 1 in marathon form so gender roles, social expectations and gross inequalities are totally foregrounded at the moment. I'm seeing them everywhere! That show is so, so brilliant. And, TA-DA! it's totally Splendor in the Grass's contemporary. It's easy to see why Deanie (Natalie Wood) went so crazy in that film. It wasn't just small town Bud (Warren Beatty) she had to worry about. Plop her down into the big city and the swarming mad men would have broken her, too.

I bet this would make a great double feature

P.S. The Bright Star website is quite ethereal and interesting

P.S. 2 Though I have this film pretty high in my current Oscar charts I waver continually about my confidence in that projection. I'm far more interested in this film for cinematic reasons (Campion) than for Oscar ones (biopic/romance). Bright Star is currently expected to open in limited release in mid September.

Cannes: Agora and Bright Star

<-- Rachel Weisz at the Agora premiere

Our reader / contributor in Cannes hasn't had much time for post-screening e-mails but she is quite fond of Agora, from director Alejandro Amenábar (The Others, The Sea Inside). That's rather a surprise since a lot of reports we've been reading have been decidedly less enthusiastic. But you know cinema: it divides whether or not it conquers.

Here she is...

Agora is unapologetically provocative. The Vatican has been wasting its time worrying about Angels and Demons with Amenábar's epic about the religious strife that destroyed Alexandria waiting in the wings. Rachel Weisz, reminding us that her Oscar win was no fluke, is dynamic as Hypatia, the philosopher and astronomer known for her outspoken questioning of God. She has a high-minded nature and has sworn off men and worldly pursuits completely. The first half of the movie follows the expulsion of the pagans from Alexandria and the Christian led destruction of the city's famed library. Many Alexandrians convert to Christianity in the wake of the seige, including Hypatia's former slave Davus (Max Minghella) and confidante Orestes (Oscar Isaac). Hypatia nonetheless remains steadfast in her beliefs, devoting her time to pursuing possible explanations for the heliocentric model. The movie focuses on the growing power of the Christians, as they turn their sights on the Jews and eventually the city's entire political organization. Agora outright accuses the film's Christian leaders of flagrantly manipulating the biblical text and indulging in the worst types of persecution (are there good types?). This is the most forthright challenge to the religion that I have personally seen committed to film.


Max Minghella starts out somewhat weak but grows increasingly impressive as he develops from a slave in love with Hypatia to a religious follower trying to mute his own unease with the tactics being used around him. I was most invested in the relationship between Orestes and Hypatia, and the former's clear respect and admiration for the latter. Watching Orestes negotiate the turning of public opinion against Hypatia gives the movie its most challenging emotional edge. Agora has some trouble connecting the drama of the personal stories with its larger tale of a pivotal moment in civilization, but its audacity, technical clarity, and relatability ultimately make it worthy of the effort.

I know several readers are hoping that we see Rachel Weisz on Oscar's red carpet again. The lack of consensus enthusiasm at Cannes doesn't always mean something in the larger marketplace (and thus the Oscars) but it can. Rosengje thinks that if it surmounts the obvious obstacle -- will anyone see it? will critics care to convince them to? -- it would find Oscar favor.

<-- Abbie Cornish and Jane Campion at the Bright Star premiere

I also had to ask her opinion on Jane Campion's Bright Star which is about the short passionate romance between the poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. It's my most eagerly awaited picture from the festival on account of my deep love for Campion's The Piano (1993).

Rosengje is less enthusiastic then the consensus thus far.

I enjoyed and admired Jane Campion' competition entry Bright Star but could not fight the feeling that the movie frequently functions as a standard period romance. Abbie Cornish's direct manner and eventual tenderness toward her beloved are captivating. It is a testament to her performance that the poignancy of the relationship is actually more potent in Keats' absence. I felt the leads were lacking in chemistry, but the depth of Fanny's feeling as the film progresses is palpable and carries the film's last act as Keats journeys to Italy to treat his tuberculosis.

Ben Whishaw and Paul Schneider in Bright Star

I found Ben Whishaw to be Bright Star's biggest weakness. The actor effectively portrays the man's sensitivity and his poetic nature, but overall he seems too weak to warrant the affection of the headstrong Fanny. Paul Schneider, in the supporting role of Mr. Brown, gives the movie's most energetic and vital performance amidst the romantic and intellectual angst. He constantly challenges Fanny's motives while demonstrating a true devotion to Keats.

As expected, the technical credits are perfection, with costumes and cinematography standing out. Fanny starts Bright Star obsessed with design, and her frilled and pleated ensembles reveal more about her personality in the opening scenes than her initial interactions with Keats. Campion particularly captures the beauty of the couple's surroundings in a way that is more effective than the resulting poetry. One sequence involving butterflies left me breathless.

This is the same sequence that Roger Ebert referred to in his recent Cannes article, so I'm guessing it's a true standout and one that they'll eventually plaster on beautiful Oscar FYC ads... not that that is all that important at the moment. The real importance is that Jane Campion has finally made another picture. Rosengje wanted Campion's comeback movie to be a bit more "narratively audacious" but thinks it could be an arthouse hit.

Bob Berney, formerly of Picturehouse, has made a career of successfully drawing audiences to arthouse fare, and the young leads and romance should be accessible and enjoyable to a fairly broad audience.

Agora is currently expected on American screens on December 18th. Bright Star arrives on September 18th.

Red Rouge Carpet Lineup

More glitterati from Cannes.


No, that's not what Mariah Carey wore to the red carpet. That's her travel outfit on her flight over to attend the very successful Precious screening. This might be the first time I've ever understood one of Mariah's fashion choices. Comfort first when you're high in the sky... even if you're a diva. I included her in this red carpet lineup merely to get my bearings that somehow -- due to Precious -- I'll have to start talking about her now. There are so many singers I'd rather talk about if they'd only make movies (Gwen Stefani, Annie Lennox, Sufjan Stevens, P¡nk, Rufus Wainwright) or learn to act (Madonna).

Remember Bae Doona (waving to the camera) from that Korean monster movie The Host? -- or as the IMDB likes to call her Du-na Bae. Asian names are so confusing on that site -- she's now starring in Hirokazu Koreeda's latest called Air Doll, which is about a blow up doll who develops a soul. Great concept. How many hours until we hear about some American studio snatching up remake rights?

Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish got dolled up for the star-studded premiere of Jane Campion's Bright Star which seems to be divisive already. More on that when you scroll down. And finally American funny lady Elizabeth Banks & internationally renowned beauty Aishwarya Rai were photographed together at the Up premiere in different gowns a couple days ago. I guess they're not about to put the brakes on their red carpet chumminess. Here they in different gowns... and this event wasn't long after the other. Imagine how much luggage you'd have to bring to Cannes if you were a celebrity. Three outfits for each day... minimum.

More Cannes chatter
Manohla Dargis @ NY Times on the previously glutted art house market. Is there a silver indie lining in the economic downturn?
IFC Daily Bright Star reactions at Cannes. Is Jane Campion (The Piano) finally making a real comeback? The movie is now scheduled to open stateside on September 18th.
Mike D'Angelo lots of tweeting from Cannes. Hates everything. Or merely tolerates. Only a 50/100 for Jane Campion's Bright Star? Boo. Or "assumed 'Boo' " rather since I haven't seen it. Still, the tweet is funny.


I do support such legislation. Or, rather, a 5 year ban. Needless to say, this ban would not go into affect until after Jane Campion is done returning to us. The cinema needs her.
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Cannes Lineup 2009

The following twenty films are competing for that coveted Palme D'Or.

Antichrist Lars Von Trier (Denmark-Sweden-France)
Bright Star Jane Campion (Australia-UK-France)
Broken Embraces Pedro Almodovar (Spain)
<--- Enter the Void Gaspar Noe (France)
Expect cheer and happy endings!
Face Tsai Ming-Liang (France-Taiwan-Netherlands-Belgium)

• The first three titles there, bunched up together, feel like some sort of pornographic love letter addressed to me. Not to you, to me. Mine. ALL MINE. Three of my favorite filmmakers with new completed films, one right after the other? Talk dirty to me on the Croisette, Cannes programmers. Talk dirty to me.
  

Fish Tank Andrea Arnold (U.K.-Netherlands)
Les Herbes Folles Alain Resnais (France-Italy)
In the Beginning Xavier Giannoli (France)
Inglourious Basterds Quentin Tarantino (US)
Kinatay Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)

• Brillante (right) sure is prolific. His last film Serbis was a difficult sit. I continually felt like I was missing something having little knowledge of Pinoy film or culture. But, that said, it wasn't a fast fade either. I still find myself thinking about it: the goat in the movie theater, the aggravating weary repeat walks up and down those enormous staircases, the family unable to deal. Resnais is 86 years old and still making movies but his presence is another reminder that Cannes is pretty conservative with their choices. Reading through the list of films reminds us that Cannes is more likely to stick with laureled auteurs in the main field. The new talent generally has to battle it out in other sidebars.
  

Looking for Eric Ken Loach (U.K.-France-Belgium-Italy)
<--- Map of the Sounds of Tokyo Isabel Coixet (Spain)
a dual identity drama starring Rinko Kikuchi
A Prophet Jacques Audiard (France)
Spring Fever Lou Ye (China-France)
Taking Woodstock Ang Lee (US)

• Why am I not more excited for new films from both Ang Lee and Quentin Tarantino? My best guess is that the comedic nature of Woodstock is throwing off my general Angthusiasm and the extreme violence of Basterds -- not to mention its trouble with spelling -- is putting a damper on the latter. I'll see both of course.
  

Thirst Park Chan-wook (South Korea-US)
The Time That Remains Elia Suleiman (Israel-France-Belgium-Italy)
Vengeance Johnnie To (Hong Kong-France-US)
Vincere Marco Bellocchio (Italy-France) --->
Starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Mussolini's secret lover Ida Dalser
The White Ribbon Michael Haneke (Germany-Austria-France)

• More Cannes regulars.

Some potentially exciting titles outside of the main competition include: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Terry Gilliam), Agora (Alejandro Amenabar), Tales from the Golden Age which is an omnibus film from Romania (Cristian Mungiu of 4 Months... fame has two segments), Drag Me To Hell (Sam Raimi) and Push/Precious/Untitled/Based on Book by Sapphire.

The congested world famous festival runs May 13th-24th in France.
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We Can't Wait #5 Bright Star

Directed by Jane Campion
Starring Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw. Co-starring: Paul Schneider, Thomas Sangster, Samuel Barnett and Kerry Fox
Synopsis A biopic with a romantic focus, it tells the story of the doomed love affair between Fannie Brown and the poet John Keats who died at only 25 by way of period cinema's most fearsome killer: tuberculosis. Cough once and you're dead by the end of the picture.
Brought to you by a merciful god for Jane Campion is back.
Expected release date god only knows


Nathaniel: I've just noticed that this list is rather filled with auteurs who are notoriously slow about actually making movies and Campion fits that bill though we didn't expect she would at first. After the international success of her masterpiece The Piano sixteen long years ago, it seemed like we'd be spending a lot of time wrestling with her inimitable voice and forceful humanist vision. She followed The Piano with a literary adaptation (Portrait of a Lady), a bizarre but intermittently brilliant deprogramming drama (Holy Smoke!) and one reviled genre mashup (In the Cut). Then she disappeared.

Here's to her reappearing act, Bright Star. Let's hope it's an artistic "comeback" to put it in reductive popular context. I have no great love for the biopic genre but I groove to doomed celluloid romances so I'm curious and excited. Campion has never made a film that's less than very interesting (In the Cut doesn't quite work but it's better than its rep) and she's working with a cast of young actors who may be going places.

poll by twiigs.com

Whitney: Jane Campion is quite amazing. Her last biopic (An Angel at my Table) is in my top five favorite films.

Nathaniel: And that one also stars the fearless Kerry Fox (who went down on co-stars long before Chlöe Sevigny agreed to service Vincent Gallo... but that's a topic for another post. Or perhaps better left alone entirely). Here's to the Campion/Fox reunion.

JA: Even amid all y'all's enthusiasm I remain cold. It'll depend on the reviews for me. I liked The Piano and I know I've seen Campion's other films but remember approximately zero-point-zero-zero about any of them (save how hot Mark Ruffalo looked with that 'stache in In The Cut).

Joe: Campion tends to make movies that fascinate me, even if I don't ever end up loving them (full disclosure: I've never seen The Portrait of a Lady -- last I checked it wasn't available via Netflix, which: WTF?). In the Cut is a fascinating failure, Holy Smoke! a fascinating mess. Obviously, I'm hoping this is an actual success, both for Jane, and also for my brand new favorite wispy English brooder Ben Whishaw. Love that kid!

Nathaniel: The rest of the cast compels, too. Abbie Cornish still hasn't really lived up to that initial "next big thing" buzz -- it must be so much pressure to be an actor from Australia these days post Russell, Cate, Hugh, Nicole, Naomi and Heath! -- but if anyone can sell me on her worth, it'll probably be Campion. Among the co-stars Schneider has been winning in a few movies recently (Lars and the Real Girl, Jesse James) and I hope Barnett sings again. Remember him crooning in The History Boys?

Readers... are there too many biopics on writers? Will you ever understand what Ryan Phillipe sees in Abbie Cornish? Will this be Jane Campion's ticket back to the Oscars in February 2010?

In case you missed any entries they went like so...
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We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
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Tuesday Top Ten: Female Directors @ Box Office

updated to correct box office errors & bring up to date to Nov 30th

With Twilight, the high school vampire romance, opening to huge box office, various websites are talking about director Catherine Hardwicke's "achievement". For the most part I hate the notion that box office is an achievement (maybe it is but it's no meritocracy) or that it's directly attributable to any one person involved. This is how many movie stars end up with oversized paychecks that they're rarely able to live up to (result = backlash). It's how many directors of questionable talent continue to get major gigs (consider the careers of Brett Rattner, Chris Columbus, et al) because they're smart enough to attach themselves to can't miss franchises. What I'm saying is this: I could've directed Twilight and it would've still opened to $69 million. My version would've changed a few things:

• A better wig for Taylor Lautner.
• No clothed scenes whatsoever for Cam Gigandet.
• Less boring ass moping/whining from Kristen Stewart (who may never be able to live that hospital scene down. That was the best take!? Ouch)
  
• Extra scenes that aren't in the book so that something happens besides stare-downs. My cat might love this movie
  
• More shirtless scenes for Edward... but not in the sunlight because I hate that stupid skin twinkle effect.

Come to think of it, I hated all of the effects in the movie. Yeah, I definitely would've fired some people. I can't recall the last time a movie with special effects this cheesy opened huge. Was it Van Helsing? Generally speaking blockbusters have top notch special effects even if they're dramaturgically challenged.


I'm joking of course (somewhat?). Catherine Hardwicke undoubtedly made a better film than I could have but her skills have nothing whatsoever to do with the box office. And while I thought this vampire yarn shabbily directed I suppose she'll always have the stunning and appropriately histrionic 13 as a first and more deserving claim to fame.

Enough boring ass moping/whining Nathaniel. Get to the list!

Top Box Office Hits Directed by Women
I might have missed one but I think this is mostly accurate
note: I did not include co-directed animated movies in this list

runners up

16 $66 The Parent Trap (1998) Nancy Meyers

15 $71 Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) Sharon Maguire
14 $74 Prince of Tides (1991) Barbra Streisand
13 $95 Michael (1996) Nora Ephron
12 $107 A League of Their Own (1992) Penny Marshall
11 $114 Big (1988) Penny Marshall
~~

10 $115 You've Got Mail (1998) Nora Ephron

09 $119 Twilight (2008) Catherine Hardwicke
08 $121 Wayne's World (1992) Penelope Spheeris
07 $124 Something's Gotta Give (2003) Nancy Meyers
06 $126 Sleepless in Seattle (1993) Nora Ephron
-- $140 Look Who's Talking (1989) Amy Heckerling
04 $140 Deep Impact (1998) Mimi Leder
03 $143 Mamma Mia! (2008) Phyllida Lloyd

02 $144 Doctor Dolittle (1998) Betty Thomas
01 $182 What Women Want (2000) Nancy Meyers

And as a palate cleanser, some movies that are definitely worth investigating if you can find room on your netflix queue (I know I'm always giving assignments).

10 Interesting Female Directors

(Alphabetically and off the top of my head. My favorite from their filmographies listed)

Alison Anders (Gas Food Lodging)
Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark)
Jane Campion (The Piano)
Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation)
Claire Denis (Beau Travail)
Mary Harron (American Psycho)
Nicole Holofcener (Lovely & Amazing)
Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!)
Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry)
Lynn Ramsey (Morvern Callar)

I forgot Susanne Bier (Brothers). My apologies! And of course you can't go wrong with Agnes Varda (but I was thinking more of features rather than docs which is what she's doing now). There are also many fine foreign directors whose work I'm less familiar with... other countries don't seem to have as hard of a time as the US employing female directors (the submission lists for Oscar's foreign films illustrates this point each and every year)

related article minus the women (um....): Oscar's Best Director Race predictions for 2008
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The Piano (1993)

A Reader Request (long time in coming --my apologies Scott!)
#9 Personal Canon: The Movies I Think About When I Think About the Movies

The menu on the 1999 DVD edition of The Piano is a hideously misleading photoshop tragedy. It’s garish, poorly composed and off putting. I won't even reprint it here to illustrate my point. It's too horrifying. I dare say I’ve never seen a poorer match between a menu and the film that follows. It’s the last less than exquisite image one will see once “play movie” is selected. If you’ve never seen the film before and you (like me) have been burdened with the unwitting purchase or rental of this particular edition, press the buttons quickly.

On to the beauty! There's so much of it...

Like mother, like daughter (Anna Paquin & Holly Hunter in The Piano)

I saw The Piano in Salt Lake City in November 1993 and I’ve never forgotten the experience. The movie held me in rapt attention from its first stirring images and Holly Hunter's high pitched but quiet delivery of one of the greatest opening monologues I'd ever heard

The voice you're hearing is not my speaking voice but my mind's voice...

I remember my best girlfriend’s hand gripping my arm during the most brutal sequence late in the movie. She was so upset she nearly bolted from her seat. I vividly remember exiting the theater after the credits rolled, both of us in a daze. We knew we’d seen something great but what exactly had we seen? Watching The Piano for the first time can feel like confronting a gorgeous but alien presence. It’s utterly transporting but also unfamiliar. Your rational mind will tell you that this shouldn’t be the case. But deeply sensual films are uncommon. What’s more, films shot through with feminine mystique, energies and point of view are arguably the rarest forms of cinema. The Piano stood womanly and defiant and far removed from other films that came before it and sadly, perhaps, has remained a foreign thing. It's still a rarity.

Jane Campion’s masterpiece, with its eerily beautiful New Zealand landscapes (before Lord of the Rings popularized the place for Hollywood) and bold femininity, felt otherworldly in 1993 but like all truly great art, it proved unusually accessible despite the challenging gauntlet it threw down. It was a major arthouse and critical success, loved by both the intelligentsia and the more middlebrow Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Before it closed its run it had won eight Oscar nominations, three statues, a sizeable box office gross for the time and a passionate enduring following.

The film begins with a curiously fuzzy image. The next cut reveals it as a POV shot: we’re looking through the fingers of Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) who is partially covering her eyes... from what we’re not sure. The camera doesn't stay subservient to Ada's point of view but rather begins to study her, this curious mute creature. Hunter's fascinating performance, incongruously both stony and expressive, demands it...

READ THE REST...
Return and discuss if you have something to say.

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Links, Episode #228

links for one and all
Defamer Mia Farrow has a pair. She proves it by taking Spielberg to task. Which Defamer reminds us you just don't do in Hollywood.
30 Second Bunnies run both Spider-Mans together. So it's more like a 15 second reenactment this time --they're messin' with the formula!
Nick Schager interviews Laura Dern about INLAND EMPIRE and Year of the Dog


good news for Nick
Cinematical reports that Jane Campion is finally returning to filmmaking. The new film is to be about the love affair between the young controversial poet John Keats (who died @ 25) and his neighbor Fanny Brawne whom he loved. The latter role is looking like prime real estate for Abbie Cornish (she of the sudden casting ubiquity). Campion nearly always provides actors with complex roles. If they're up for it, Oscars (hi Holly Hunter) and/or career best work (hi Kate Winslet) can follow. It's been a good long while since the undervalued Piano auteur had something in movie houses. Looking forward to this one am I.

good news for me
Guardian claims that bloggers are dropping off like flies. mwahhuahua. You know what my stamina is like. I'ma keep on keeping on while my competition eats it. Eventually it'll pay off. It has to, right? Hello? Hello...?